The Immortality of the Soul of Man Luke 9:25

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The Immortality of the Soul of Man

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Come simply, first and foremost, to say we praise you, we thank you for you and you alone are holy, holy, holy.
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You alone deserve honor and glory and power and praise.
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Lord we stand in need of help from the Holy Spirit this morning, me personally, us as a body, as a congregation, as a whole,
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Lord, that we would ask you this morning to make our hearts soft to your truth, that you would make our minds sharp and aware, keenly aware of who you are and what you have done in sending your son to die on the cross for our sins.
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The fact that he was buried and that he was raised again on the third day and that he ever lives for us,
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God, we pray that you would bring conviction to the lost, dear God, that you would cause both the child and the adult to have a little better understanding of who you are in your word and that we might have a greater awareness of the immortality of the soul of man.
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For it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. This morning in Luke chapter 9, we're going to read one verse.
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We are at verse 25, Luke chapter 9 verse 25.
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This is the word of the living God. The scripture says this, for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
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What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
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This morning we want to, from this text we see the great,
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I'm going to call it a great urgency that we see that God, that Jesus himself places upon the soul of man.
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So there are a good many people who in our world and throughout history who have believed and who have taught this doctrine of the immortality of the soul.
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As well, there are many who would deny the existence of the immortality of the soul. This is why as the church of our
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Lord Jesus Christ that we have to be aware and attuned to what the scriptures teach about the immortality of the soul of man.
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So that being said, I want to say this, I know it would be remiss of me if I didn't tell you that there are some good arguments for the immortality of the soul of man.
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There are some bad arguments for the immortality of the soul of man. There are good arguments against the immortality of the soul and there are bad arguments against the immortality of the soul.
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But one of those bad arguments, and we're just going to mention this in passing, maybe we can mention them a little later, but I want you to know as we go into this text this morning that there are some, even some who profess to be
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Christians who teach a doctrine called annihilationism. They say that the soul of man is annihilated in punishment in hell, so it's done away with.
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But this is not what the scriptures teach. So just to give you a definition of annihilationism, because it's important that we know what's wrong and what's right, annihilationism is the belief that unbelievers will not experience an eternity of suffering in hell, but instead they'll be extinguished after death.
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The soul is not extinguished after death, and we're going to see that from the scriptures. For many, annihilationism is an attractive belief.
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It's attractive because of the awfulness of the idea of people spending eternity in hell. Most folks don't want to think about that, so they just dismiss it away.
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But dismissing away the truth of the scriptures does not change the truth of the scriptures.
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So a comprehensive look at what the Bible says about the destiny of the wicked, what it reveals, it reveals the fact that the punishment in hell is very much eternal, just as eternity in heaven.
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The old -timers used to say, and we still should repeat this phrase, that there's a heaven to gain and that there's a hell to shun.
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So a belief in annihilationism, it results from a misunderstanding of several important doctrines from the
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Word of God. A belief in annihilationism results in misunderstanding the consequences of sin.
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It results from a misunderstanding of the justice and the holiness of God. And it represents a misunderstanding of the nature of hell itself.
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So today, that being said, our aim is to lay before you today a biblical argument for the doctrine of the immortality of the soul of man.
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Now some might say, we're in church, why would you make an argument for this? Just tell us. You would be amazed at how many who sit in church pews week after week who do not understand or realize the serious nature of the immortality of the soul of man.
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The scripture says in the Old Testament in one place, where a tree falls, there it will lie.
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You will die one day. It's inevitable. We will die. Save the
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Lord comes back first. But we will die. And because we will die, you must understand and know that you will die lost or you will die saved.
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You will die outside of the grace of God or you'll die in the grace of God.
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So this sermon is going to be simple and it's going to be reasonable in comparison.
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And I say that there will be quite a bit of information, but it's going to be simple and it's going to be very reasonable in comparison to the treatment that this great doctrine has been given throughout church history.
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There are minds that are far greater than we can imagine who have delved into this.
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And we're going to look at just a couple of the statements and the things that they have said about that. But primarily we're going to be looking at the scriptures.
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So in Hebrews, and we'll get into verse 25 in a moment, but there's a little bit of introductory work that I feel like we must do so that we get a good, firm foundation, understanding the immortality of the soul of man.
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So in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 38, in verse 39 together, this is what the word of God says, now the just shall live by faith.
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But the Lord said, if anyone draws back, my soul will have no pleasure in him.
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If you remember last week, we looked at the word soul in passing, that word in Greek is the word suke.
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In the Old Testament, in the Hebrew, it's the word nefesh, but it is the soul of man is what it's talking about.
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In verse 39 there in Hebrews, the scripture says, but we are not of those who draw back to perdition.
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We are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
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We are those as Christians who believe to the saving of the soul, that the soul of man is eternal.
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So we'll answer these questions today, not necessarily in any specific order, but we will answer these questions.
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Number one, the question is, is the soul destroyed at death?
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Is the soul destroyed at death? Number two, does the soul live eternally?
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Is the soul destroyed at death? Next question, does the soul live eternally?
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These questions are answered in the scripture, and I would pose to you today and even a greater question, and it's important that we, for our foundation, for our basis here in understanding this doctrine of the immortality of the soul, this question is this, who made both man and the soul?
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Who made man and the soul? God did.
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That's exactly right. That is in the children's catechism. Who made you?
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God made you. Why did God make you? For his glory.
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So it is our creator himself that holds the power of life and death of both body and the soul.
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It is our creator. That one was answered right off the bat. Who's made both man and the soul of man?
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It is our creator himself that holds the power of life and death of both body and soul.
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Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse 11, the preacher Solomon, the wisest, quote unquote, the wisest man who had ever lived, of course, outside of Jesus Christ.
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He said this in Ecclesiastes 3, 11 concerning God, that he has made everything beautiful in its time, in his time, and he has put eternity into man's heart.
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Yet so that he cannot find out what goes on from the beginning to the end, he cannot find out what
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God has done from the beginning to the end. God has put eternity into man's heart.
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When we read that word heart in context here, that is the seat of the emotions.
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It is the soul of man. So what God has put into corruptible man, man is corruptible, let's establish this, man is corruptible.
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What God has put into corruptible man is an incorruptible soul.
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The body dies and the soul lives. The soul is not reincarnated.
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The soul is not moved to another person or it's not a shared organism, but the body dies and the soul lives.
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It is how God made man. Louis Burkhoff, Louis Burkhoff is a good church history theologian that would do good for all of us to read up on.
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Louis Burkhoff, born in the late 1800s, he wrote quite a bit about concerning theological truth.
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Now, he's probably best known for his systematic theology. He also wrote concerning the immortality of the soul.
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And I'd like to quote from his work on this grand doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Burkhoff states this, physical death is the separation of the body and the soul.
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Physical death is the separation of the body and the soul and it marks the end of our present physical existence.
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This wording is so clear, so plain. Physical death is the separation of the body and the soul and marks the end of our present physical existence.
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It necessarily, physical death being that, physical death necessarily involves and results in the decomposition of the body.
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Right. This is what Job said when I died, though the skin worms destroy my flesh, yet in my body
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I will see God. He was looking forward to a resurrection and a reuniting of the body and the soul.
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It marks the end of our present life and the end of the natural body. But now,
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Burkhoff states, the question arises, what becomes of the soul?
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Does physical death bring its life to a close or does it continue to exist and live on after death?
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Remember, that's one of our questions today, right? Is the soul destroyed at death?
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Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 39, the Lord states, see now that I, even
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I, am he and there is no God beside me. I kill and I make a lie.
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I wound and I heal and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
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It's very, very important for us to understand this when we're considering this immortality of the soul of man.
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Now, in our text here today, in our text, in verse 25, again, the words are very, very important.
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What does it profit a man? What does it benefit a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses or forfeits himself?
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Our Lord in the text here makes clear the reality of the eternal nature of the soul of man, the great emphasis that he places on this.
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Jesus speaks with such force on this. What shall it profit a man?
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What will you be benefited on an individual basis? The question is directed at those who are who are in his hearing here.
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And he's saying, what will it benefit you if you gain the entire world and yet lose or forfeit yourself, your soul?
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So now here in Luke's account, Luke uses the word life, OK, forfeit his life in Matthew and Mark's account.
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They use the word soul, the actual word psuche. So is there a discrepancy here?
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Were the synoptic gospel writers divided on the meaning of life in the soul?
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The short answer is no, there was no division. There was no doubt they were in absolute harmony and unison with one another on this issue.
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They say Luke uses life, Matthew and Mark use soul or psuche, but they are entailed all in one.
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And we're going to understand this. So in Proverbs chapter 25, 11, the wisdom writer says this, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
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It's a it's a beautiful picture that is painted. So as we look at these words, let's look at these words and just see what they mean here.
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So the word for world in our text today, what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world?
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The word world here is the Greek word cosmos. Now, if if we are going to be true to biblical or scriptural hermeneutics, if we're going to be true to biblical exegesis, we've got to bear in mind, understand and know what this word cosmos means.
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This word cosmos is used. Oh, goodness. I can't remember the exact number. Maybe one hundred and thirty seven times.
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One time it's used as in reference to ornament or decoration and all the rest of the times it's used in several different different ways to be understood in the context of the passage in which it's written.
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So the word cosmos, it has many meanings, but the context determines what the meaning is at that specific time.
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So, for example, number one definition for cosmos is this. It's an act and a harmonious arrangement or constitution.
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It's an order or a governmental system. Number two, it's used as an ornamental or decoration and adornment, speaking of the stars in the heavens, as in first Peter.
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Third way that this word world or cosmos is used, it's a reference, general reference to the world, the universe as a whole.
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It's used in reference to the circle of the earth. It's used as in a kind of a general form, the inhabitants of the earth or the human family.
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It's also used in reference to the ungodly multitude. The whole mass of men alienated from God and who are therefore hostile to the cause of Christ.
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It's used in a seventh form in reference to the world's affairs, meaning the whole circle of earthly goods, the whole of the endowments and riches and pleasures and advantages that a man, woman, boy or girl can have on the earth.
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And lastly, it's used in a kind of a collective sense at relating, preparing and contrasting
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Jews and Gentiles. Now, in our text, it's again very important that we understand the right context here.
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So Jesus is not saying that if a man, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole harmonious arrangement or constitution of the world?
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He's not saying that what shall it profit a man if he gains the ornament and decoration and adornment of the world?
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He's not saying what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world? The world is not ours.
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The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. It does not belong to us anyway. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole circle of the earth?
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Again, you see how that's kind of beyond us. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world?
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The whole inhabitants of earthly men. We are not here to gain earthly men.
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We are here to worship the Lord, our God. What shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and he gains the whole ungodly multitude of men?
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You see how that's not us either. But we see here in that seventh definition, what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, the whole circle of earthly goods, the whole circle of endowments, the whole circle of riches, the whole circle of advantages and pleasures of this world?
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What will it profit you if you gain all the trinkets that this world has to offer you and yet you lose your own soul?
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That is very, very strong language that's being used here in this text by Jesus.
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What will it profit a man if he gains all earthly goods, endowments, riches, advantages, and pleasures, and yet forfeits and loses his life?
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And that question is for you to comprehend and to consider today.
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Are you striving to gain all that this world has to offer at the sake of your soul?
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For you are called to call to turn away from this world and its ways and its systems and to turn unto the
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Lord, our God. This is what Jesus, this is the heart of what
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Jesus was saying there. So he said, what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, the whole cosmos and forfeits, that word forfeits there that's used, the
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Greek word azimiao, it means to sustain damage, to receive injury, or to suffer loss.
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What does it profit a man if you gain everything but you don't have the ability to enjoy it and to forfeit?
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We understand that term more, I think more naturally, we think of it in a game.
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Let's say that you've got two teams that are playing against each other and part of the team shows up for one side and the other part of it has their whole team and the team that's not all there has to forfeit the game without even giving a challenge to their opponents.
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Jesus is saying, what will it profit you if you have to forfeit all that you have for the sake of your soul?
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In Matthew, in Mark's gospel, that word soul is used and defined in this way, the soul as an essence, which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death.
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So when we talk about the soul, we're talking about the soul as an essence, which differs from the body and is not dissolved at death.
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The body perishes, the soul is eternal. According to the creation account in Genesis, man is made a dichotomy, not a trichotomy, like the prosperity gospels and the
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NAR crowd teaches, man is made a dichotomy. This is what the word of God says in Genesis chapter two, verse seven, then the
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Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.
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Nephesh, that's the word used in Hebrew, some synonyms, words that are used in conjunction with to describe the soul throughout scriptures.
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We have the word self as used here in Luke's gospel. Some other words, creature, passions, appetites, in other words, again, it's the seat of the heart, the center of the emotions and will, it's the appetite, it's used as the mind, speaking of the mind itself, the living being, our desire, our emotion, our passion.
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When you hear about folks being soulful, it is that which breathes, it is the breathing substance or being, the soul of the inner being of man.
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Man was made a living soul in the garden. Soul is used in reference to the term itself, living being with life being in the blood, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, it's what the scriptures teach, and lastly, that word soul is used in reference, just in plain, down to black and white, clear as it can be, the man himself, it's yourself, it's personal, and it is individual.
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Your soul is not redeemed on the basis of what your mother and your father or your grandmother and grandfathers or your church or your family has done historically throughout the years.
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Your soul is saved and redeemed on an individual basis. Matthew 10, 28,
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Jesus said, do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, does the soul live on?
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Yes. Can the soul be destroyed? No. He said this, do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
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So when we use this term, immortality, concerning the immortality of the soul, what we mean in the simplest sense of the word is this, that the soul lives forever.
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This is what we mean when we talk about the immortality of the soul. That being said, it is very important for us to understand that the attribute of immortality is authored in and from God alone.
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Our souls are not eternal because of anything that any person has done.
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The soul is eternal because it is God who breathed in the man the breath of life. It originates from God.
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Louis Burckhoff went on to make clear in the truest sense of the word that only God has immortality.
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This is what he said. In the most absolute sense of the word, immortality is ascribed only to God.
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Paul speaks of him in 1 Timothy 6, verse 15 and 16 as the blessed and the only potentate, the
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King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, who only has immortality. That's what the scriptures say.
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Now, this does not mean that none of his creatures are immortal in any sense of the word.
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Burckhoff states this. The evident meaning of this statement is that God is the only being who possesses immortality as an original, eternal, and a necessary endowment, which is a fancy way of saying
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God is the author and the finisher. It originates in God.
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So, Burckhoff went on to say, whatever immortality may be ascribed to his creatures, it is contingent on the divine will.
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It is conferred upon them and therefore had a beginning. God, on the other hand, is necessarily free from all temporal limitations.
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It's important when we understand this word that the source of the living soul does not come from us.
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It comes from God. He goes on to clarify concerning the theological meaning of that term immortality.
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The term immortality, he said, is used in theological language to designate that state of man in which he is entirely free from the seeds of decay and death.
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Now, this is what we mean right here. This is what we mean and what I mean to communicate here is this.
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What we mean when we talk about the immortality of the soul, what Burckhoff said about being free from the seeds of decay and death, this is what we're talking about when we talk about the glorification.
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The glorification that Christ will give to all those who are his redeemed.
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We read about this in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 50. The apostle
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Paul writes this, now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
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Remember, the body is corruptible, the soul is incorruptible.
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So Paul said, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. And then Paul said, behold,
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I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
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For in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the trumpet shall sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.
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For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality, so when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory, death, where is your sting?
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Oh, hell, where is your victory? For the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law, but the apostle
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Paul said, but thanks be unto God who gives us the victory through our
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Lord Jesus Christ, and he went on to give a word of encouragement. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, be unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
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Lord, knowing this, that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. It is the hope of us as God's people, as Christian men, women, boys, and girls, that one day when we die, death is not the end.
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And that it is not just us dying and being absent from the body, then being present with the
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Lord, there is more. For God has promised that one day we will be, our bodies will be raised and resurrected, that is the glorious hope that we have as Christians.
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Burkoff goes on to give three arguments, I'm just going to share three of them very quickly from several perspectives on the immortality of the soul.
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Let's look at three of these. So number one, a historical argument. Number two, the metaphysical argument.
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And number three, the moral argument. The historical argument basically says this, that the agreement of people is just as strong in connection with the immortality of the soul as it is to the existence of God, the reference to the existence of God.
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There have always been, Burkoff said, there have always been unbelieving scholars who denied the continued existence of man.
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But in general, it may be said that belief in the immortality of the soul is found among all ethnicities and nations, no matter what stage their civilization may be.
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And it would seem that a notion so common can only be regarded as a natural instinct, is what
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Burkoff said. The two, the metaphysical argument, this is what he said, this argument is based on the simplicity of the human soul.
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You don't typically, generally hear those two terms used together, the metaphysical and simplicity. But he says this, the argument is based on the simplicity of the human soul.
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And he infers from this, it's indissolubility, that the soul is indissoluble. In death, matter is dissolved into its part, but the soul as a spiritual entity is not composed of various parts and is therefore incapable of division or dissolution, and lastly, the moral argument.
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The human conscience testifies to the existence of a moral ruler of the universe who will execute justice, yet the demands of justice are not met in this present life, so this was written in the early 1900s, yet the demands of justice are not met in this present life, there is a very unequal and seemingly unjust distribution of good and evil.
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The wicked often prosper, they often increase in riches and have an abundant share of the joys of life, while the pious frequently live in poverty, meet with painful and humiliating reverses, and they suffer many afflictions.
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Hence, there must be a future state of existence in which justice will reign supreme and the inequalities of the present will be adjusted.
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That is the moral argument. Now this moral argument goes all the way back, if you go back into the
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Old Testament, and you can read in the book of Psalm, it's either chapter 73 or chapter 78, the psalmist
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David cries out to the Lord, and he begins to cry and moan and complain to the Lord that the wicked are having their way, and poor pitiful him, he's been put down at every turn, until the scripture says, until the psalm writer says, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then
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I understood therein, that there is a payday, as another old timer said, a payday a coming.
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So it is certain, it is certain that the soul of man is both eternal and indivisible, in closing.
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So how do we make application of this? How do we apply what we've heard here concerning this simple statement that Jesus made, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his life, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits, gives over his soul, what will it profit?
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How do we make application of this doctrine, this truth of this doctrine of the immortality of the soul of man?
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Number one, know this, that you are made in God's image, every single one of you made in the image of God, we are made in God's image with a body and a soul.
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Number two, keep in the forefront of our minds, this truth, recognize that our body is corruptible, you can deny it, it doesn't change it, our bodies are corruptible, but our souls are incorruptible, this is why as a body of believers, that we must be about proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ regularly, everywhere we go, every opportunity that we have, because men and women are dying lost on every hand.
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Number three, to make application of this, understand that your soul, which is who you are, is going to live forever.
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I don't want to be intentional in my statement here, you will be forever redeemed, or you will be forever perishing, but know this, in hell, there will be no getting away from God, even in hell,
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God is the Lord of all, I believe Martin Luther put it this way, even
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Satan is God's devil, you will be forever redeemed, or you will be forever perishing.
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Last of all, just ask yourself this question, what will it profit me if I gain the whole world and lose my soul?
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Job asked this question about living again, Job chapter 14, verse 14,
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Job said, if a man dies, shall he live again? A little later, he makes the statement plain and clear, though the skin worms destroy my flesh, yet in my flesh,
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I will see God, for I know that my Redeemer lives, Ezekiel chapter 18, verse 20, the scriptures tell us plainly this, concerning personal responsibility, personal accountability, the soul that sins, it shall die, the son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son, the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself, you and you alone will give an account before God, you will stand having the righteousness of Jesus Christ accounted to you, or you will stand condemned in your sin, you will stand redeemed, or you will stand forever perishing.
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Last of all, John chapter 5, verse 16 through 29, this is what the word of God says, this is the words of Christ, he said this, for this reason, the
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Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him, because he had done these things on the
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Sabbath, but Jesus answered them, and he said this, my father has been working until now, and I have been working, therefore the
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Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his father, making himself equal with God.
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Then Jesus answered and said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the father do, for whatever he does, the son also does in like manner, for the father loves the son, and shows him all things that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel, for as the father raises the dead, and gives life to them, even so the son gives life to whom he will, for the father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the son, so that all should honor the son, just as they honor the father, he who does not honor the son, does not honor the father who said him, this idea that many in the world have, we'll give allegiance, or we'll give credence to God, but we won't pay
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Jesus any mind, friend, all judgment has been committed to Jesus Christ, if you deny the son, you deny the father, if you deny the father, you deny the son, and if you deny either the father or the son, you deny the
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Holy Spirit of God, most assuredly, Jesus said, most assuredly,
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I say to you, he who hears my word, and believes in him who sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life, most assuredly,
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Jesus said, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the
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Son of God, and those who hear will live, for as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son to have life in himself, where does eternity come from?
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It comes from God, it is who God is, it didn't begin with him, it is who he is, who he always has been, but the scripture says he's given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the
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Son of Man, and Jesus said, do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice, and they will come forth, they will come forth, those who have done good, they'll come forth to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil will come to the resurrection of condemnation, the soul lives on, your soul is an immortal soul, you have value and dignity and worth, because you are made in God's image, and you do not have the right, nor do
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I have the right, nor the authority to do with what God has made and given as I see fit, for we are the
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Lord's, it is he who has made us. One more thing about the unbiblical doctrine of annihilationism is this, in relation to the nature of hell, annihilationists misunderstand the meaning of the lake of fire, obviously if a human being were cast into a lake of burning lava, he or she would be almost instantly consumed, however the lake of fire is both a physical and a spiritual realm, it's not simply a human body being cast into the lake of fire, it's a human's body and the soul, a spiritual nature cannot be consumed by physical fire, it seems that the unsaved are resurrected with a body prepared for eternity just as the saved are, which is what we just stated, these bodies are prepared for an eternal fate.
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I would ask you today to consider as we stand this morning, to consider thoughtfully, to consider prayerfully, to consider carefully, to consider seriously, when you die, where will you be?
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Will you find yourself in the presence of the Lord, or will you find yourself in hell?
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Are you saved today? Are you born again, or you must be born again?
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What do I have to do to be born again? What do I have to do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he has paid the price for your sins, and call upon the name of the
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Lord, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, it is the
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Word of God, but only you know that. Brother Greg, would you care to dismiss us in prayer, and then we'll sing our closing hymn.
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By your name, having known and understood our misery and suffering, and then having tasted the beauty of salvation through the blood of Christ.
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Father, I ask that you watch over each of us as we leave here this day, guide our paths, give us faith, and let us rest in the finished
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Word of Christ. I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.